Just how dominant was the Hillsdale College volleyball team this weekend at the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach in West Palm Beach, Florida?
The Chargers not only didn't drop a set in four victories -- they didn't let any of their four opponents reach 20 points in any of those 12 sets, either.
Hillsdale was the only team to go unbeaten in the five-team event, hosted by Palm Beach Atlantic, and brought home the lion's share of the awards as well. Junior outside hitter Karoline Shelton was named tournament MVP, freshman Alli Wiese was named outstanding libero of the tournament, and senior setter Lindsey Mertz made the all-tournament team as well.
#18 Hillsdale 3, American International 0
The Chargers opened Saturday with arguably their toughest match of the weekend, a battle with Northeast-10 Conference favorite American International.
While the Yellow Jackets pushed the Chargers early in all three sets, ultimately Hillsdale was able to overpower AIC at the net, hitting .273 to the Yellow Jackets' .111 to pull away for 25-18 victories in each set and clinch the sweep.
Shelton led the way with a strong performance for the Chargers, finishing with 14 kills on a .387 hitting percentage and chipping in nine digs as well. Senior middle hitter Allyssa Van Wienen also had an impressive match for the Chargers, chipping in 11 kills, four digs and three total blocks, while senior outside hitter Maddie Clark continued her strong play in Florida with six kills as well.
Mertz was highly efficient directing the Chargers' offense in the contest, finishing with 38 assists and seven digs, Wiese led the Chargers defensively with 15 digs, and sophomore defensive specialist Audrey Riley chipped in eight digs and two service aces.
#18 Hillsdale 3, Palm Beach Atlantic 0
Hillsdale closed out the tournament with a highly anticipated showdown with host Palm Beach Atlantic, a consistent NCAA tournament qualifier in the strong volleyball state of Florida in recent years.
While the last time the two teams met, in 2019, the Sailfish pushed the Chargers to five sets, in 2021 PBA was no match for a red hot Charger offense that rolled past the Salifish 25-12, 25-18, 25-19.
Key to the Charger victory was a scorching hitting performance at the net. The Chargers had a hitting percentage of .404 as a team, the first time Hillsdale has hit over .400 in a match since at 3-0 sweep of Tiffin on Oct. 11, 2019.
Three Charger players finished with double digit kills against the Sailfish, led by Tournament MVP Karoline Shelton, who racked up her fourth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 14 digs. Maddie Clark also was excellent, with 12 kills and no errors on the night, and Allyssa Van Wienen chipped in 11 kills and four total blocks as well.
Mertz was the distributor keying the Charger attack, finishing with 40 assists and four digs in another strong performance, and Wiese led the Charger defense with 19 digs to lock up outstanding libero of the tournament honors as well.
With the super-sweep of the Hyatt Place Bash at the Beach, the Chargers improve to 6-2 on the year heading into their first Great Midwest Athletic Conference matches of the season next weekend. Hillsdale hosts Malone on Friday at 7 p.m. in Hillsdale's home opener, and Walsh, the team picked to finish runner-up to the Chargers in the G-MAC North Division, on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Photo by Anthony Lupi '22